posted at 9:06 pm on August 23, 2012 by Allahpundit

He’s superficially evenhanded in his criticism, singling neither of them out while concluding, “It would be hypocritical to pretend civility for one evening only to have the name-calling return the next day.” But lest you doubt which side he’s really peeved at, note that he’s replacing the civility forum with a forum devoted to religious freedom. Quote:

Q. You said you canceled the presidential civil forum because of the negativity and a larger issue. What is that?

A. It is the crumbling of our constitution’s first guaranteed freedom: the freedom of religion. This issue is more significant and has far greater implications for America’s future. People have forgotten that America was founded by people who came here to escape religious persecution. Freedom of religion is the first freedom mentioned in the Bill of Rights – before freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, and every other freedom.

And yet today, at the city, the state, and the federal levels, government bureaucrats are daily trying to limit that freedom, impose restrictions, and stifle expressions of faith on campuses, in hospitals, and in businesses. There are widespread attempts to redefine the First Amendment to simply mean “You are free to believe anything at your place of worship but you are not free to practice your conscience elsewhere.”…

President Obama’s policies clearly show what he values and I have told him that I adamantly disagree with those particular policies. I have not talked about this issue with Governor Romney, but I would imagine that as a Mormon he’d obviously understand the importance of protecting all religions against persecution, and ensuring people’s rights to practice their conscience without government intervention.

Go figure that The One wasn’t eager to sit down with him in a televised interview 10 weeks before the election and be quizzed on why he can’t carve out a conscience exemption to his contraception mandate for Catholic-affiliated health-insurance plans. The last place this guy wants to be on the eve of a four-day seminar on the “war on women” and the glories of “choice” at the Democratic convention is face to face with a famous evangelical leader. In fact, according to sources who spoke to CNN, the civility forum wasn’t canceled because Warren is disgusted with both sides, it was canceled because neither candidate wanted to take the risk of doing it. Said a source close to Mitt’s campaign, “We were never going, ever. We offered to do a video.” Romney would face at least two major risks in a format like that. One: Warren might grill him specifically on his prior support for abortion rights. Mitt’s answered that question a million times before but I’m sure he doesn’t want any fresh reminders at a moment when he’s asking the conservative base to turn out for him. Two: More generally, Romney’s desperate to turn the campaign back towards the economy and bread and butter issues and a high-stakes exchange on “values” cuts directly against that, especially at a moment when Obama’s trying to make the election into a culture war to distract from his record. For instance, given all the attention to Akin lately, he’d practically be guaranteed a question on whether there should be an exception for rape in abortion bans. How eager do you think he is to field that one? Hint, hint.

As for Warren’s point about the negativity of the campaign, fair enough, but it’s worth noting that more voters now think Obama’s attacked Romney unfairly (44 percent) than vice versa (40 percent). In fact, take two minutes and read this fascinating piece at The Hill noting the surprising success Romney’s had with his ad pointing out the sleaziness of the infamous Obama Super PAC steelworker cancer ad. I never would have guessed that voters paid close enough attention to ads to care which ones are fair and which aren’t, but yep, they do. And it sounds like Romney’s doing some damage to Bambi’s hopey-changey image by pointing out just how unfair he’s been.

Breaking on Hot Air

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

For instance, given all the attention to Akin lately, he’d practically be guaranteed a question on whether there should be an exception for rape in abortion bans. How eager do you think he is to field that one? Hint, hint.

Oh, I’ll be seeing posts about that on FB, ‘Romney refuses to address rape!!!!’ Yeah, imagine that…he’d actually like to focus on the stuff most people actually care about. The nerve.

In fact, according to sources who spoke to CNN, the civility forum wasn’t canceled because Warren is disgusted with both sides, it was canceled because neither candidate wanted to take the risk of doing it.

Glad to see that ad is so successful. Obama doesn’t have many other cards to play. The war on women got a second life, but it appears the dem’s are going to botch that with their 3 day fetus extermination celebration. Mediscare is getting neutralized.

If he can’t continue with the cheap shots, without receiving punishment in the polls, then he’s got little else left.

Warren ran the best debate of the ’08 season, but he’s right to cancel this one. Four years ago he gave obama cover by saying he was a patriot. Holding this debate, after seeing obama in action for four years, would have been the height of hypocrisy. It never should have been considered.

If the little “flea” that’s posting up a storm the last few days gets banned and I miss it, I’m going to be upset LOL!

gophergirl on August 23, 2012 at 9:28 PM

I missed it too..but I have friends in high places. :) Who is flea? Besides Red Hot CPepps.

He continued with his racist rants and about LTC West. Like many..they escalate to that over a period of time.
Besides telling RMW to suck him off..and calling LTC West Tyrone..he was on his way. A pattern I notice with the foamers.
What lies behind the mask usually comes out.

On to Rick and his Hawaiian shirts.

I’m not Catholic..but can someone square this circle for me? You have Pelosi and Biden..Catholics..then Santorums..wth is that? Pretty big diff. Why does the Cath vote- vote more liberal? The born agains make Warren their spokesperson..*shakes head* why I dont go to church anymore.

Warren ran the best debate of the ’08 season, but he’s right to cancel this one. Four years ago he gave obama cover by saying he was a patriot. Holding this debate, after seeing obama in action for four years, would have been the height of hypocrisy. It never should have been considered.

Fine with me. Warren’s intervention was annoying the last time around. The only benefit from that conversation was that BO admitted something was above his pay grade…… hardly a stunning revelation for those of us who did our homework.

Why does the Cath vote- vote more liberal? The born agains make Warren their spokesperson..*shakes head* why I dont go to church anymore.

bazil9 on August 23, 2012 at 9:39 PM

There’s a big Catholic “social justice” sect within the Catholic Church, especially among the Jesuits — and the Jesuits are the biggest group of Catholics involved in education (Georgetown, Loyola, countless Catholic high schools, etc).

And the Catholic Church, as a whole, is one of the biggest charitable organizations in the world via Catholic Charities organizations.

IMO, somewhere along the way a lot of Catholics confused being “charitable” with voting for the Dems.

I’m born again and Rick Warren does not speak for me. Never cared for the man myself.

gophergirl on August 23, 2012 at 9:42 PM

haha..I see. The flea. More like a Tic. ;)
My mom is Born again..She isnt fond of Warren either. Didnt mean an insult to you.
I am not fond of those deemed “religious leaders”. Or the mix in politics and religion. Thats just me.

haha..I see. The flea. More like a Tic. ;)
My mom is Born again..She isnt fond of Warren either. Didnt mean an insult to you.
I am not fond of those deemed “religious leaders”. Or the mix in politics and religion. Thats just me.

Dark Star..I felt so bad..I was going to my Greek family reunion and you posted something nice to me and I missed it. I used the translate tool..didnt come out the way I wanted it to. Just a Greek thing. :)

I’m not Catholic..but can someone square this circle for me? You have Pelosi and Biden..Catholics..then Santorums..wth is that? Pretty big diff. Why does the Cath vote- vote more liberal? The born agains make Warren their spokesperson..*shakes head* why I dont go to church anymore.

bazil9 on August 23, 2012 at 9:39 PM

As a Catholic–albeit a somewhat lapsed one–generally the difference comes between whether or not you think the non-abortion social teaching outweighs the abortion teaching. When I was in Catholic school back in the 80s and early 90s, most of the clergy I knew were basically pro-life socialists. The church considers abortion “intrinsically evil”, so theoretically that should outweigh whether or not welfare benefits last 52 weeks instead of 99 weeks, etc.

Not everyone sees it that way, obviously. But given how the two political parties in America are aligned, it can be tricky to figure out which way the Catholic vote would go.

If the Democrats were officially the pro-life party, then you might see them regularly draw 60-70% of the Catholic vote.

There’s a big Catholic “social justice” sect within the Catholic Church, especially among the Jesuits — and the Jesuits are the biggest group of Catholics involved in education (Georgetown, Loyola, countless Catholic high schools, etc).

IMO, somewhere along the way a lot of Catholics confused being “charitable” with voting for the Dems.

Dark Star on August 23, 2012 at 9:49 PM

This. Although for the most part the nuns, priests, and brothers who I had as teachers were either Franciscan or Dominican instead of Jesuit. Also, if I remember correctly, nuns generally live in a communal style arrangement, so maybe the daily routine of communist living just sort of spills over into the larger worldview, I guess.

IMO, somewhere along the way a lot of Catholics confused being “charitable” with voting for the Dems.

First, you have nothing to feel bad about. :-)
Second, I’m Orthodox too but I went to Catholic schools all my life so I’m pretty familiar (plus, there was that whole East-West Rome-Constantinople split in the Church in 1054 AD, so the Catholic & Orthodox religion rooted together historically and share much of the same doctrine).

JimLennon on August 23, 2012 at 10:04 PM

Yes, the Franciscan & Dominicans are also very involved in education too. I didn’t mean to imply it was only the Jesuits, just that the Jesuits had a lot of involvement in education.

You let Obama off when you let him get away with that “not above my pay grade” comment back in 2008. You had someone sitting in the seat next to you that supports genocide in the black community. He wouldn’t even support giving medical help to a baby that survived a botched abortion!!!! Good grief.

Said a source close to Mitt’s campaign, “We were never going, ever. We offered to do a video.” Romney would face at least two major risks in a format like that. One: Warren might grill him specifically on his prior support for abortion rights. Mitt’s answered that question a million times before but I’m sure he doesn’t want any fresh reminders at a moment when he’s asking the conservative base to turn out for him.

Rick Warren is a pandering fool, who would give up his convictions in a heartbeat to get publicity for himself. What he did in 2008 was just short of complete apostasy. Not quite Joel Olsteen territory, but getting close.

The first time out Øbama simply dodged all the questions and offered bromides and bumper stickers for answers. It was pointless.

I loved Rick’s book “The Purpose Driven Life” and Saddleback is a great church, but he personally has been a disappointment. If you want a rip roaring time have Paster Hagee in San Antonio interview Dumb and Dumber as well as R&R. Now THAT would be great TV.

Yes, the Franciscan & Dominicans are also very involved in education too. I didn’t mean to imply it was only the Jesuits, just that the Jesuits had a lot of involvement in education.

Dark Star on August 23, 2012 at 10:16 PM

I’m trying to imply that I didn’t mean to imply that you meant to imply that only the Jesuits were involved in education.(wait, what?)

I’ve never been taught by Jesuits, just the Franciscans and the Dominicans. I just thought I’d throw in my 2 cents to anyone unfamiliar with the situation that most of the orders involved in education take a left-of-center worldview, with the one notable exception of abortion.

why he can’t carve out a conscience exemption to his contraception mandate for Catholic-affiliated health-insurance plans.

Stop with the Catholic-affiliated already. It is aimed against any faith-based health insurance plan.

As for Ricky, just shut up already. He was foolish to let himself be used by Oboobi as a Christian shield. Just another bryll cream prophet with a message for y’all. I’ll bet he only drinks milk from a Christian cow.

Obama’s spent his acting skills – many voters, thank Heaven, have seen through him.

As to those here who suggest/state that Obama wants the demise of others, I agree. My hunch is Axelrod and Obama and the rest have been counting on voters valuing Obama’s underbelly exposure but instead, more people have grown both weary and disgusted by it.

Allahpundit, this is a worthy post you’ve made, interesting analysis. I was ready to just turn the page on the issue, hadn’t given it this much thought.

why he can’t carve out a conscience exemption to his contraception mandate for Catholic-affiliated health-insurance plans.

Stop with the Catholic-affiliated already. It is aimed against any faith-based health insurance plan.

AH_C on August 24, 2012 at 1:48 AM

It’s “Catholic-affiliated” as to discussing BECAUSE the theology of the Catholic Church is what Obama has attacked. You’re right that that attack affects “any faith-based health insurance plan” but it’s the Catholic Church who remains steadfastly prolife and opposed to abortion and birth control (among other things, but those two issue positions are what Obama has used to attack the Church and also Religious Liberty).

Other ‘faith based’ orgs have not objected as resolutely to OCare as has the Catholic Church and it’s due to such affrontery by Obama striking out at two very important aspects of the Church’s beliefs.

…because two critical issues to Obama is he just has to see abortions done and taxpayers paying for them as also for “birth control” for that segment of females who vote for him (everyone else pays for it themselves so it’s not the “pay for it” issue as to the dollars for most of us, it’s the issue that Obama wants to force people to ‘pay for it’ against their religious conscience — and it’s that moral compromise that Obama is after).

Hmm, I seem to recall that Rick Warren gave the prayer at Obama’s inuaguration.

Why, here it is.

And wasn’t he on Obama’s “faith advisory board?”

Why yes, he was.

Guess all that letting Obama use you to pretend to he was all cool with Christian values didn’t pay off the way you hoped, huh Pastor Warren?

Dark Star on August 23, 2012 at 9:32 PM

Yes and I have forgotten neither.

My first and only impression about Warren — before I read AP’s post here — was that Warren cancelled this thing because Obama is clearly been shown (by his own deeds) to be a creep and Warren’s trying to protect what remains of Obama’s image.

There’s a big Catholic “social justice” sect within the Catholic Church, especially among the Jesuits — and the Jesuits are the biggest group of Catholics involved in education (Georgetown, Loyola, countless Catholic high schools, etc).

And the Catholic Church, as a whole, is one of the biggest charitable organizations in the world via Catholic Charities organizations.

IMO, somewhere along the way a lot of Catholics confused being “charitable” with voting for the Dems.

When we resort to cursing and swearing as freedom of speech we have lost part of the culture of being civilized. Next all we need to do is call communism a religion to tie the hands that honor the Constitution.

Nor am I. He was clearly a supporter of Obama four years ago. And what did that lead to? War on Christians because, frankly, the rat-eared bastard was neither raised as a Christian or an American.

He attended a racist “Christian” church because if you are a community agitator in Southside Chicago, you find the biggest black church you can find and get in good with the pastor. But, nothing in his behavior shows any indication that those twenty years of hate-filled sermons ever registered.

When we resort to cursing and swearing as freedom of speech we have lost part of the culture of being civilized. Next all we need to do is call communism a religion to tie the hands that honor the Constitution.

mixplix on August 24, 2012 at 6:54 AM

Civility is over-rated. Seriously, I want to anihilate Obama. I want a scorched earth effort that destroys the rat-eared bastard. In short, civility is a luxury we cannot afford so long as the Christian-hating socialist is in charge of our futures.

And the Catholic Church, as a whole, is one of the biggest charitable organizations in the world via Catholic Charities organizations.

IMO, somewhere along the way a lot of Catholics confused being “charitable” with voting for the Dems.

Dark Star on August 23, 2012 at 9:49 PM

The leaders of the Catholic church have always been “Socialist” leaning, they embrace socialists around the world, they are European Socialists at heart…the Constitution of the U.S. is second (or third) to their dogma, despite what Jesus taught.

When we resort to cursing and swearing as freedom of speech we have lost part of the culture of being civilized. Next all we need to do is call communism a religion to tie the hands that honor the Constitution.

mixplix on August 24, 2012 at 6:54 AM

Funny, Jesus resorted to that quite often, in fact much worse than we ever allow…cursing is an expression of anger, labeling, demeaning.

Where people get confused is that somewhere down the line, we introduced sexual conduct into the cursing. That moves it from cursing to obscene.

Hey Rick, after your performance in 2008, refusing to follow up on Obama’s support for infanticide, you should feel free to STFU.
Stick to raising money for your church. You’re obviously not qualified to comment on politics.

mbecker908 on August 23, 2012 at 9:52 PM

Yeah…Warren is one of the reasons we have President O’Bonehead. What a dupe.